Hidden Sides
by macchime
Summary: When a storm hits Winding Circle, a headstrong weather witch wants to stop it. However, she herself is stopped by the one person that can...TrisxBriar fic, first try at one-shot romance.


**Macchi-chan blushes**

**Macchi-chan: Okey dokey. In my way of thinking, this is really my first one-shot. Wow. I can't believe I actually **_**wrote**_** this kind of mushy stuff…well, it's mushy to me at least. **

**Suu: Macchi doesn't own anything by Tamora Pierce, and certainly NOT Syaoran Li from TSUBASA: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE!**

**Macchi-chan: Hey, a girl can dream, can't she? **

**Steve: Nope.**

**Macchi-chan: Meanies…*goes off into her frequently inhabited corner and silently cries***

**Suu/Steve: Enjoy Macchi-dono's first mushy one-shot!**

***a scrap of paper floats over from Macchi* **

**Scrap: This is dedicated to my nee-chan, verveine, as well as…nah, never mind. Acorn, you don't count. FYI this is a TrisXBriar fic, despite how Acorn thinks it should go. (thus it is not dedicated to acorn-brain-baka. Love 'ya Acorn!) LOVE 'YA NEE-CHAN!**

**Hidden Sides**

As many stories start, it was a dark and stormy night. Almost all of the mages with any ability to glimpse into the future had predicted a major storm chain coming toward Winding Circle and had instructed everyone to take cover.

Trisana Chandler, being the stubborn weather witch that she was, ignored the instructions of her mentors at Discipline and decided to try her hand at stopping the storms or, at the very least, make them not quite so severe. However, as she climbed out the window, she felt a hand grasp her bare ankle, which was sticking out of her mass of petticoats and skirts. She shrieked and let go of the windowsill, but the hand held on. Tris looked up from holding her skirts to her legs to see exactly who was now holding both of her ankles. Her face began to match her curls as she saw the mischievious face of her professed brother.

"Briar Moss, you let go of me this instant!" Said boy grinned as he watched Tris try to control her fury. "Sure, Coppercurls, but are you sure you want me to do that? If you look past that long neb of yours, then you'd see that you're hanging off the second floor" Sparks began to fly-quite literally-as the fledging weather witch glared as only she could at Briar. Desperate to control her temper, she began to reprimand him in a carefully calculated voice. "You know very well what I mean, idiot." Briar grinned wickedly as he reached out to take one of Tris's hands to help her up. She stifled a scream and bit her lip in fear. Hesitating, she slowly took one of her hands off of her skirts, then bent forward to take Briar's proffered hand. He began to pull her up as Tris shook her head rapidly to rid her mind of any thoughts about Briar's strong, calloused, well-worn hand.

The dark-headed boy tugged on Tris's hands one last time and heaved the redhead onto the floor of his room. As she sat up and rubbed her head, Briar blew up. "What were you doing out there, showing yourself off to the world?" Tris glared again. "I fell because you scared me! And besides, I was only trying to fix the storm..." The boy sputtered. "You out of all of us know your limits! I know that you know that you couldn't do that! Even my mates back in the gang know their limits better than a bleater like you!" Tris began to shake from her postition on the floor, but whether it was from the cold of the spring rain or from fury, Briar couldn't tell. He stood up and reached out his hand to help her up. She took it, and he took her to her room, for it was past their bedtime and staying up any later would have major consequences.

~not too long later~

Tris sat on her bed, looking like a wraith with her white nightclothes, blazing red hair, and pale skin. Briar had left a few minutes ago with the promise that he would be back in a little bit with a surprise for her. She looked around her room. Although she wasn't scared of the dark like Sandry was, without the light of a candle, her room looked almost as scary as a crypt. She sighed, then jumped in fear as she saw Briar's head poke through her door. She quickly composed herself as he walked into her room with a steaming cup of herbal tea. She gasped in amazement. "Briar...how did you get that? You know Lark and Rosethorn are going to find out in the morning when they see the mess you left behind..." Briar winced and set the cup down in her hands. "I've gotten better! I cleaned up my room this afternoon, after all." Tris thought about it, then nodded. "True. You're a lo-I mean, it is a whole lot better than it used to be..." She sipped her tea in embarrassment and chided herself for slipping up. There was absolutely NO way that she would EVER tell him...

Briar grinned cheekily, knowing that he had put Tris in an uncomfortable position that she couldn't wait to get out of, no matter what the cost. He plopped down on the bed beside her, and she unconsciously leaned into him, sipping her tea. "...Briar?" He looked down at the vulnerable merchant girl. "What?" Tris's face flushed bright red. "Um...I was hoping that...well...could you...would you..." She trailed off and suddenly became very interested in the design on the cup's matching pottery saucer. Briar smiled genuinely. "Ya. I got it. I'll go nick you another cup of tea." He rose to leave the room, but suddenly stopped. Tris was holding on to the edge of his shirt and looking at the floor. "No...stay. I want...to sleep, but i cant stand being alone...So stay...please."

Briar waited until she had arranged herself on her bed, then sat down on a stool he'd dragged up beside her bed. He sat by her bed until Coppercurls fell asleep, and then he snuck outside of her room to go upstairs to his own.

~the next morning~

Tris sat at the table, waiting for her foster family to arrive for breakfast. Sandry and Daja came down together, Lark following right after. Then, surprise surprise, Rosethorn came into the room dragging a protesting Briar by the ear. "OwowowowowowOW!" They sat around the table, chattering in their little groups, until Niko burst in the door. Panting and sweating, having lost his cool demeanor, Niko supported himself at the door until Lark came to the rescue and sat him down on a stool. The foursome stared at him until he caught his breath and was ready to talk.

Rosethorn ignored him and continued eating.

Niko leaned back until he was ready to talk, then he opened his mouth to speak. "News...from Winding Circle...the storms...horrible."

He began to speak of the damage done to the temple, Summersea, and the surrounding area. The whole time, Lark nodded solemnly.

Rosethorn still ignored him.

However, once he began to talk about the loss of life, which was tremendous and horrifying to say the least, Tris blanched. After a few more minutes of reports, she suddenly stood up, knocking her stool over, and bolted to her room.

Rosethorn sighed.

"Poor girl. That's what happen when a child your age takes the weight of the world on her shoulders. Even if it is only a storm." The auburn-headed dedicate stood up and brushed herself off. As she turned to go to her workshop, she looked at Briar. "Next time, boy, you'll remember to choose a herb that I won't be able to smell when you brew it in the middle of the night." Briar flushed-we don't know why-and looked at Sandry and Lark for assistance. Sandry spoke up gently. "We don't know what went on last night, so you should be the one to go comfort her." Seeing the wisdom in the statement, Lark nodded encouragingly. Briar nodded once, sharply, then bolted after Tris.

"TRIS!" The former thief slammed Tris's door open. The redhead was curled up in the farthest corner of her room, back facing him. At first glance, she was fine. A few seconds later, her entire body shook with her silent sobs. She turned slightly to see who it was, then whirled back into her corner. "Go away!" "Bu-" "GO AWAY, I said!" Briar sighed. Tris was really pig-headed some of the time.

Wait.

Scrap that.

Tris was really pig-headed ALL of the time. He stood at the door and waited for the tempest of items flying around the room created by her emotions to calm down. It didn't, and he got impatient. He ducked and swerved and jumped to avoid things like blankets, pillows, books, and even fourteen glass vases! Panting slightly, he made his way over to Tris and put his hand on her shoulder. She jumped and turned to look at him with tear filled eyes.

Briar knelt down beside her and hugged the distraught redhead. She leaned into the hug and tried to explain herself. Despite being a no-nonsense person, she couldn't help but cry out all of the sorrow that had accumulated in her soul. "I-I could have saved them...I could have, I would have, but I didn't!"

Tris punched Briar in the stomach.

As he gasped for breath, she scooted away from him and glared at him, tears running down her cheeks. "But YOU had to stop me!" Briar drew in a deep breath. "You woulda killed yourself in the process, wouldn't 'cha? And you wouldn'ta thought twice about it! What about everyone else who cares about you? Sandry, Daja, Lark, Niko, Little Bear, that idiot starling, and a lot of others! They'd all be upset real bad!" He pulled the girl back into an embrace, and even though he tried to see her face, she doggedly refused to meet his eyes. "...I know they would. Everyone's always worried about me. But what I really want to know is..."

"...would you?"

Briar sighed and rested his head on her shoulder. "'Course I would, idiot. That's why I'm here right now." Tris cut in. "Instead of stuffing your face with my breakfast at the table, right?" Briar knit his brows and looked at the girl's freckled face. She quickly turned away to avoid setting loose the laughter that threatened to burst out at any moment. He rolled his eyes and began to tickle her sides.

Who would have thought that Trisana Chandler, weather witch-in-training, feared teenage girl, would ever be this ticklish?

Tris curled up into a ball and tried to push away Briar's hands, but he pushed on relentlessly. As he tickled her mercilessly and they both gasped for breath with silent laughter, they knocked over one of the vases perched precariously on top of one of Tris's books.

It shattered.

Rosethorn burst in the door, livid with fury.

"BOY YOU'D BETTER GET OUT TO THE GARDEN AND START WEEDING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE HUNG BY YOUR TOES IN THE WELL!" Tris giggled as Briar flushed and sat up. Rosethorn shifted her attention to Tris. "And YOU! YOU can start by cleaning up this mess then by going with Niko to the wharf to begin cleaning up after the storm! And if you don't, you can just join this young cur here in the well!" Tris sat up ramrod-straight.

Rosethorn _(finally_) left.

The two collapsed on the floor, barely supressing laughter. After a small writhing fit in which they calmed down, Tris leaned back onto Briar and looked up at him. "Thanks. For everything." Briar smiled. "Yeah, you too."

Before he got up, he bent his head and planted a small kiss on Tris's mass of red curls.

Tris stared after him as he left and brought a single, trembling hand up to her burning cheek. Down the hall, she could hear another argument brewing between Rosethorn and Briar. She smiled crookedly.

_Maybe one day...one day I will tell him how I feel._

**Macchi-chan: *is dragged out of corner* It failed. I know it did. I know it. **

**Edel: No it didn't…**

**Macchi/Suu/Steve: It did too.**

**Edel: Um…So…how was it? I'd really like to know so I can tell Macchi once she gets out of her depressed mode…**

**QUESTIONS WITH MACC-**

_Botch that. She's depressed._

**QUESTIONS WITH **_**SUU**_

**Suu: Yaay! I get screen time! Okay! Um…recently, Macchi's been obsessed with Vocaloid, namely Rin, Len, and Luka. So, **

**Who is your favorite Vocaloid and **_**why**_**?**

**Steve: You know, lots of Rin and Len's songs are depressing. Maybe that's why she is too. **

**Suu: I doubt it. How could you be depressed when you could be singing stuff like **

_**JAPANESE NINJA #1**_

**I mean, seriously! Are they really THAT depressing? **

**Steve: yup. **

**Macchi-chan: *comes out from corner with butterknife* my idiot v-raptors are gossippiing about me…and stealing my screen time…so, **

**Who is your favorite Vocaloid and **_**why?**_

**Love 'ya Baibai gotta go!**


End file.
